The King in Yellow and 40K

By KnightErrantJR, in Dark Heresy Gamemasters

Does anyone know if there are any established references to the King in Yellow anywhere in 40K?

I was thinking of making the original play an Eldar manuscript, so that the Eldar might be crossing the PCs path as they attempt to collect copies of the cursed play.

I just wanted to avoid anyone saying "hey, I thought the King in Yellow was already associated with X" in the setting.

None as far as I can tell. In the Horus Heresy novels there was a Luna wolf character named Hastur Sejanus, and I know there is a chaos space marine (or squad) named Carcosa (either in Blood Gorgons, or some HH novel- I forgot wich) but that's about it.

So far it seems it's just the HH writers putting in little refernces to HP Lovecraft, rather than an official combination of the mythos with 40k.

And I made a homebrew renegade chapter; "the Sons of Hastur" but that don't count.

Good idea! I wonder what would happen if the Harlequins performed "The King in Yellow"...

Edited by Robin Graves

I believe that something like that was mentioned in D.Abnett "Pariah"

The King in Rags and Tatters is another name for Hastur/King in Yellow. It is also the central monster of a tzeentchian cult of DH1.

The King in Yellow is somewhat mentionned (but so mysterious than you can do what you want with it) of the Haarlock Legacy's campaing of DH1.

Edited by InquisitorAlexel

So far it sounds like the veiled references wouldn't directly cause any hiccups in my plans.

Yope, but I suggest you take a look to the menagerie in Disciples of the Dark Gods (DH1), the menagerie is the cult having the King in Rags and Tatters in its center.

I'm guessing someone just watched True Detective ...? :P

I'm guessing someone just watched True Detective ...? :P

While I can totally see where that assumption would come from, it was actually more roundabout than that. I heard someone on a podcast make the old Star Trek VI joke about Shakespear "in the original Klingon," and started wondering what famous works people in 40K might attribute to species other than humans, and of course, why contemplate plays without contemplating horrible, sanity damaging plays? One thing leads to another . . . ;)

Yope, but I suggest you take a look to the menagerie in Disciples of the Dark Gods (DH1), the menagerie is the cult having the King in Rags and Tatters in its center.

I jumped onto the 40K RPGs around the time that Deathwatch came out, and I have a pretty extensive collection of everything from Deathwatch on, but never really got into the original Dark Heresy. Looks like I might need to do a little bit more purchasing into the "old version" just for the sake of edification.

...Looks like I might need to do a little bit more purchasing into the "old version" just for the sake of edification.

Disciples of the Dark Gods is a great read- I highly recommend it for any DH (1 or 2) GM looking for inspiration.

Disciples of the Dark Gods is a great read- I highly recommend it for any DH (1 or 2) GM looking for inspiration.

One of the few points A-B and I agree on.

Well there may not be a lot of direct or crystal clear references, there are a lot of nods to the King and Yellow in the mood and atmosphere of Dark Heresy in general (masked unknowable entities, mysteries the solving of which cost you your sanity, damning obscure books) and the Haarlock Legacy adventures in particular.

I'm glad you did this thread as I do want to do my own 40K Roleplay/Call of Cthulhu cross-over Campaign at some point. (Setting and characters would be 40K, but w/ CoC/Mythos Monsters, aliens, and gods added to it.)

Remember... Yog Sothoth is the Key and the Gate!